Ms. Deesha K. Brown
Assistant City Attorney
Office of the City Attorney
Municipal Building

Dallas, Texas 75201

OR99-0757

Dear Ms. Brown:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Texas
Open Records Act, chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned
ID# 122884.

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for, among other things,
all photographs pertaining to a particular automobile accident. You contend that one of the
requested photographs is excepted from disclosure under section 552.119 of the Government
Code.(1)

We note at the outset that the department received the open records request on December 3,
1998, but you did not request an open records decision from this office until December 23,
1998. Thus, it appears that you did not seek an open records decision from this office within
ten business days of the department's receipt of the request. See Gov't Code § 552.301.
Failure to timely request an open records decision from this office results in the legal
presumption that the requested information is public. See id. § 552.302; Hancock v. State
Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ). In order to overcome this
presumption, a governmental body must provide compelling reasons why the information
should not be disclosed. Hancock, 797 S.W.2d at 381. The applicability of section 552.119
provides such a compelling reason. See Gov't Code § 552.352 (the distribution of
confidential information is a criminal offense).

Section 552.119 excepts from public disclosure a photograph of a peace officer,(2) that, if
released, would endanger the life or physical safety of the officer unless one of three
exceptions applies. The three exceptions are: (1) the officer is under indictment or charged
with an offense by information; (2) the officer is a party in a fire or police civil service
hearing or a case in arbitration; or (3) the photograph is introduced as evidence in a judicial
proceeding. Section 552.119 also provides that a photograph exempt from disclosure under
this section may be made public only if the peace officer gives written consent to the
disclosure. Open Records Decision No. 502 (1988). The photograph at issue contains the
depiction of a peace officer. Assuming none of the exceptions are applicable in this instance,
we conclude that unless the officer consents to the release, the department must withhold the
portion of the photograph that depicts the police officer in a manner that he could be
identified. The department must release the remaining portions of the photographs to the
requestor.

We are resolving this matter with an informal letter ruling rather than with a published open
records decision. This ruling is limited to the particular records at issue under the facts
presented to us in this request and should not be relied upon as a previous determination
regarding any other records. If you have questions about this ruling, please contact our
office.